Sunday, June 8, 2008

Security for the Log Cabin

I had a little scare at the Log Cabin last night while my husband and stepson were at the movies. To begin - I am on a quiet street with older neighbors (most of whom live here.) I've met a few of them and recognize their cars. So while laying in bed this truck was cruising back and forth slowly down our dead end street. It then stopped at our log cabin and pulled onto our lot (the portion that is NOT a driveway and was shining their headlights into the cabin.) I immediately knew they were scoping our place out and thought no one was home. I snapped on the bedroom lights and then they pulled out, turned off their lights and cruised down the street. Suspicious behavior - right?! After locking the bedroom door and calls to the police and my husband - it did get me thinking about security for our log cabin. I originally felt safe at our place in the woods, nice neighbors, small community, etc. But again, times are tough all over and I'm sure weekend cottagers are easy targets. The best advice I can give to anyone with a place out in the country/woods

You can never have too many motion detector lights! Have them put all around your perimeter (but if you have neighbors, make sure they are not aimed at them.) My builder will be installing 2 more this week.

Have one of your lamps put on a timer to go on at night.

Get to know your neighbors and have them keep an eye on your place. I just informed my neighbors across the way that if they see a suspicious car at our place during the week, please call the police.

The pricey option - installing an alarm. I am hoping I do not have to resort to this. Again, I like to think I am in the safest place in the woods of northern Michigan.

11 comments:

Wow you are one gusty girl I would be laying there in the dark wondering what to do ....We haven't had any problems but we do have motion lights also and so when I wake in the middle of the night and they are on then I'm freaked wondering what set if off : )Hopefully they got your message and won't be back !

Your post really gave me pause for thought. I live a half mile away from my nearest neighbor, well off the main drag, and the sheriff never comes out here unless called to. I do worry more about bears and mountain lions than I do human intruders, but just the same, we're kind of on our own and it can be scary if you think about it too much.

Since I'm alone most of the time I depend on my trusty Barky VanAiredale (aka Baby Rocket Dog) to keep creeps at bay. She has a really deep bark. Also, do the motion lights. Even though we're in this "idealic" area,there are still meth labs, and delinquents around...sad, but true. :>(

My in-laws have a summer cottage on a lake in southern Michigan not far from where we live. Of course no one is there in the winter and there have been a lot of break-ins over the years. It's usually just kids making messes and tearing the place up. It is so frustrating. Luckily we haven't had any major damage except broken windows, etc.

There's not much we can do about it other than we try to go out every few weeks and check things out.

Greetings from the last frontier of Alaska... so very sorry to hear of your 'peaceful' state of mind and setting being violated by those who think 'what others have should be theirs' ~ grizzly's are nothing compared to what a human can do to one's state of mind ~ and the majority of 'bears' go out of their way of humans and encounters ~ I've read your blog because I grew up in the UP ~ your cabin and land is so awesome ~ I pray the 'angels' and a few good security measures will make it okay again ~ and as I always say, sometimes the 'two best friends' you can have are "Smith & Wesson" ~ God bless!